Kelly Ripa Doesn’t Mind That Kathie Lee Gifford Won’t Read Her Memoir

Kelly Ripa recently released a tell-all memoir, Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories, which details her personal life and struggles. One chapter in particular has come under scrutiny for describing Ripa’s complex relationship with her beloved first co-host on Live, Regis Philbin, who passed away in 2020.

Kathie Lee Gifford, who hosted Live for 15 years with Philbin before Ripa took over, let it be known she will not be reading the memoir.

Gifford told Good Day New York, “I was really sorry to see the headlines. What’s the point? I just know what Regis was to me. He was, for 15 years, the best partner a person could ever, ever have professionally, but he was my friend. We were dear friends and after I left the show, for the next 20 years, we became better friends, dearer friends.”

See the clip below:

While she doesn’t attack Ripa explicitly, she notes that she never once experienced Philbin be unkind to anyone.

Related

'Live's Kelly Ripa & Ryan Seacrest on Their 'Terrific' Chemistry & Pre-Show Rituals

Ripa, for her part, isn’t worried about the criticism. She discussed Gifford’s comment on the Not Skinny Not Fat podcast. She said, “I didn’t see the interview, so I tend to, like, not go into deep dives about things I can’t comment on because I haven’t seen them.”

She also addressed the chapters that have been making waves, saying, “I knew writing a book was going to open me up to all sorts of criticism, right? But people who read the book have a very different take on those chapters because they read the book.”

Ultimately, she’s thankful to her predecessor for helping generate headlines and attention for her book. “It’s really hard to sell a book, right? I mean, honestly, I’m not going to lie, I was not reading any headlines anywhere,” she admitted. “And suddenly all of these headlines pop up and there’s all of this attention on my book. So I am a person that tends to take a negative and turn it into a positive. And so my ultimate comment is, ‘Thank you.'”

Live with Kelly and Ryan, Weekdays, Check local listings